If you’ll be in Texas this weekend, please come see us at the Music for All Booth #1148! Several of our staff will be available to speak with you, and we will also have materials available including the 2018 Bands of America Championship Schedule and Application, the 2018 Music for All Summer Symposium promotional materials, and application packets for the 2019 Music for All National Festival!

After you’ve stopped by, don’t forget to catch some of the clinics and presentations that are happening throughout the weekend. Below is a list of sessions and performances that are being presented by friends of Music for All!

As Event Coordinator, Griesmer is responsible for assisting with the planning of all events, coordinating the volunteer program, managing vendor relations, event supplies and materials, and serves as the liaison for the “SWAG Team” of volunteers at the Music for All Summer Symposium.

Griesmer’s involvements with Music for All begin in 2014 as a volunteer for Bands of America Championships and the Music for All National Festival. He went on to serve as an Events Department Intern and remained with the organization as a seasonal event staff member before being hired full-time.

“We are beyond excited to have Conlon join the Event Team,” says Laura Blake, Director of Events. “He was a highly successful intern with Music for All while in college and we know that his skills, positive attitude, and enthusiasm will bring strength to the department. We are so glad he chose Music for All to start his professional career.””

Griesmer graduated from The University of Tennessee with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. While attending UT, he marched Sousaphone in the “Pride of the Southland” Marching Band. Griesmer is originally from Nashville, TN and attended Father Ryan High School. He was first introduced to Music for All when the Father Ryan H.S. Band, of which he was a member, performed in Bands of America Regional and the Grand National Championships.

Please join us in celebrating Emily Ambriz on her recent promotion to Marketing Coordinator!

As Marketing Coordinator, Ambriz’s responsibilities include email and social media campaigns; web, digital, and print, design; and marketing projects.

"Emily has been a valuable member of the Music for All staff this past year in a different capacity,” says Debbie Laferty Asbill, Vice President of Marketing and Communications. “It is a pleasure to bring her on board the Marketing team where her skills and passion for promoting Music for All’s message, programs, and events will continue to be an asset to the organization and our staff."

Ambriz joined Music for All in May 2017 as the Administrative Assistant/Receptionist. She graduated from Ball State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations with minors in flute performance, creative writing, and Spanish. Ambriz is originally from the Indianapolis area and is a proud alumna of Pike High School. While attending Pike, she was highly active in the performing arts department.

Congratulations to Emily on this much deserved promotion! We are thrilled that she will continue to help support Music for All's mission to create, provide, and expand postively life-changing experiences through music for all!

Music for All has named Sarah Loughery Controller of the organization, based in its downtown Indianapolis headquarters.

As Controller, Loughery is responsible for the oversight and management of all finance and accounting functions, ensuring proper procedures and systems are in place to support effective planning, program implementation, audits, and internal controls that directly support Music for All’s programming.

“We are delighted to add Sarah to the Finance team at Music for All,” said Nancy Carlson, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. “She has exactly the combination of experience and knowledge of accounting that we need, as Music for All continues to expand our programs.”

Loughery is a Certified Public Accountant with a corporate accounting background spanning over 20 years. She has held positions such as Senior Controller, Controller, and Accounting Manager at the following organizations: mAccounting, Elements Financial Federal Credit Union (formerly Eli Lilly Federal Credit Union), MS Inspection & Logistics Inc., Milestone Advisors (currently mAccounting), and Mutual Hospital Services Inc. Loughery received her bachelor's degree in Accounting from Indiana University.

For over a year, viewers have been tuned in to professionally recorded live broadcasts of Bands of America events on FloMarching. This is a fantastic virtual option for all of us to experience life-changing performances.

Music for All has additional plans to meet our growing audience interest and to bring life to timeless past performances.

Music for All has contracted with the Scholastic Performance Network (The “SPiN Network”) to provide Music for All students, parents, and fans access to on-demand videos of scholastic music performances at a reasonable cost, including archival Music for All and Bands of America performances 2015 and prior.

Students, parents, and fans may access the Network by purchasing SPiN subscriptions for $25 per year. This fee provides access to all channels on the SPiN Network, which will soon include the Music for All channel.

SPiN has agreed to fund the restoration and digitization of Music for All video archives (including Bands of America performances) to allow them to be enjoyed by students and parents, and used by instructors for educational purposes.

Music for All will soon begin uploading its archives onto its SPiN Channel.

"For many years, we have collected a considerable library of content and this new service will allow subscribers to stream and enjoy programming whenever they want and wherever they are," said Eric L. Martin, Music for All’s President and CEO. “Music for All is grateful to the SPiN Network for the time and effort its team expended to make this service possible and its generous support for our legacy and content preservation initiatives. We believe that affordable access to recordings of student performances is central to promoting music education and raising the quality of scholastic music performances. I encourage every teacher, administrator, and school district to take a look at SPiN’s offering and consider the benefits and peace of mind that comes with participation.”

Music for All is excited to announce the release of “One Journey, One Vision,” a full-length documentary about the Bands of America in the 2017 Rose Parade.

A film crew was embedded with the 2017 BOA Honor Band in the Rose Parade during their time in Southern California and Pasadena, capturing the behind-the-scenes moments, performances, interviews with students and faculty, and telling the story from arrival to the Parade itself...and beyond.

Music for All is making this film available at no cost to stream online:

Music for All and FloVoice are pleased to announce that, for the first time, all of the ensemble concerts of the 2018 Music for All National Festival, presented by Yamaha, will be live streamed, March 15-17, from Indianapolis, Indiana.

Live streamed performances will be available on the FloVoice online channel, to subscribers of FloVoice and any of the FloSports family of channels.

Venues and concerts that will be live streamed include all 2018 Festival school choirs, concert bands, orchestras, percussion ensembles, and chamber ensembles, as well as the honors concerts: the Honor Band of America, Honor Orchestra of America, Jazz Band of America, and the Mass Choir with the Ball State University Orchestra and special guests.

“We are thrilled to be able to make these live streams available to family, friends, and supporters who cannot make the trip to Indianapolis, as well as music-lovers who can enjoy these three days of outstanding music-making,” says Debbie Laferty Asbill, Vice President of Marketing and Communication of Music for All. “Music for All enjoys our partnership with FloMarching with Live Streams of our Bands of America Championships for marching bands in the fall, and we’re excited to bring these Festival performances to the world through FloVoice.”

FloVoice will be the home channel of all 2018 Festival concerts, in celebration of the premiere this March of the National Choir Festival as part of the Music for All National Festival.

Music for All has added the Music Production Boot Camp to the Music for All Summer Symposium starting this year. The Music for All Summer Symposium, presented by Yamaha, is the largest national weeklong summer music camp for students and teachers. The 43rd annual Symposium will take place at Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana from June 25-June 30 at Ball State University.

The Music for All Music Production Boot Camp curriculum is an immersive music production experience for high school students. Participants will study with award-winning recording engineers and producers in a state-of-the art facility. The Production Boot Camp experience is total immersive, hands-on production experience. Students get the opportunity to work with professional musicians and recording engineers as they record, mix, and master a production, as well as learn the music theory and hone in on their songwriting skills.

The Music Production division has a superb faculty that includes Chuck Ainlay – award-winning music producer, Yamaha Artist, and recording engineer-in-residence – and Dr. Christoph Nils Thompson, Division Coordinator and Assistant Professor of Music Media Production at Ball State University.

“At the Music Production Boot Camp, expert instruction meets state of the art technology,” says Dr. Christoph Nils Thompson, Division Coordinator. “This is a great opportunity for high school students with a strong interest in music production to totally immerse themselves for a week in the production process. All the strengths of the instructors and the facilities will come together for this division. As the director of the music production program at Ball State University, I am very excited to extend our knowledge and facilities to high school students. This brand new division is ideal to give students the boost they need to reach the next level in their production skills, regardless of style or area of expertise.”

More than 1,400 high school and middle school band and orchestra students and 300 high school and middle school band directors are expected at this year’s Symposium.

The Symposium brings together student musicians and educators from across the country. Students learn from top music educators in divisions that include concert band, marching band, jazz band, orchestra, percussion, color guard, drum major, peer teaching, and in its third year, the middle school concert band camp. High school and middle school band directors and instructors can choose from several educators’ tracks that hone their professional skills. Student leadership training is a theme that runs throughout all divisions of the Symposium.

The Southern Invitational, Music for All’s first choral Affiliate Regional Music Fesitval, took place last fall at Georgia Southern University.

Music for All Affiliate Choral Representative, Dr. Shannon Jeffreys, Director of Choral Activities at Georgia Southern and Dr. David Langley, Assistant Professor of Music Education at Georgia Southern led an exciting two-day choral experience for high school choirs from Georgia and South Carolina.

Dr. Jason Max Ferdinand, Music for All representative clinician and Director of Choral Activities at Oakwood University joined clinicians Kim Mann and Jeffrey Clayton to provide feedback to the participating choirs and conductors.

October 18-19, 2018 will mark the next Georgia Southern Invitational, a regional affiliate of Music for All National Festivals, presented by Yamaha. Interested choirs can contact Shannon Jeffreys at Georgia Southern or Kim Mann at Music for All.

If you'll be in Chicago for the Midwest Clinic this week, please come see us at the Music for All booth, Booth #241! Several of our staff will be there to greet you with friendly smiles and hellos, and we will have lots of great materials available, including the 2018 Bands of America Championship Schedule and Application, 2018 Music for All Summer Symposium promotional materials, and application packets for the 2019 Music for All National Festival!

In addition to seeing us at the booth, we hope you'll catch some of these great clinics and presentations that are happening throughout the week. Below is a list of sessions and performances that are being presented by friends of Music for All!

Chat Room"String Crossings" Throughout the Orchestra Program: Strategies and Ideas on Retaining & Recruiting Middle School Orchestra Students to the High School Program12:30PM - 1:00PM Room W180Soo Han and Joel Powell

Clinic times may change from when we gathered the information listed above, so make sure that you check the Midwest official schedule before you head to a session. Maybe even check out the newly updated Midwest Clinic app so you can check out the schedule on the go! Information about the app and how to download it can be found on the Midwest Clinic website, www.midwestclinic.org.